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A review by rinnyssance
Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer
3.0
Okay, so about midway I stopped reading the scientific studies because I didn't see the relation to anything at all. He didn't really explain the studies as well as he told the stories that opened the chapter or a different concept. It seemed to switch from a story to a research report. It gave me a headache.
The other thing that bothered me were the examples he gave. Would I say they were all creative? Ehhh--not really. Some things just worked. Some things were needed. I wouldn't say that the Swiffer mop was some innovative stoke of creativity. Nor would I say the post-it note was something worth bragging about inventing. If anything, these seemed to simply be ways for these people to earn a dollar, and it worked. But what makes an idea creative? It seems, to him, it has to be successful.
He seemed to write a lot about things that he admired; none of it really gave you any insight to what's creative but-- again -- what works and made money. I've seen my share of bad reviews for this book, but it wasn't THAT bad. I actually liked the stories. The science was interesting. But I had to read each of these separately.
I'm a little confused after reading... about whether or not this was supposed to be a self-help book... or an informational book. I simply took it as information. I've seen other people differ in that opinion. It seems to be a trend for these "neuroscience" books to actually be self-help books under guise. I'm growing tired of that, I've read enough of that. But hey... whatever.
The other thing that bothered me were the examples he gave. Would I say they were all creative? Ehhh--not really. Some things just worked. Some things were needed. I wouldn't say that the Swiffer mop was some innovative stoke of creativity. Nor would I say the post-it note was something worth bragging about inventing. If anything, these seemed to simply be ways for these people to earn a dollar, and it worked. But what makes an idea creative? It seems, to him, it has to be successful.
He seemed to write a lot about things that he admired; none of it really gave you any insight to what's creative but-- again -- what works and made money. I've seen my share of bad reviews for this book, but it wasn't THAT bad. I actually liked the stories. The science was interesting. But I had to read each of these separately.
I'm a little confused after reading... about whether or not this was supposed to be a self-help book... or an informational book. I simply took it as information. I've seen other people differ in that opinion. It seems to be a trend for these "neuroscience" books to actually be self-help books under guise. I'm growing tired of that, I've read enough of that. But hey... whatever.